Average salaries in MLB down again

NEW YORK — The average Major League Baseball salary dropped for an unprecedented third straight year, even before the shortened season caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Major League Baseball Players Association said Thursday the 2020 average would have been $3.89 million if a full season had been played. That was down 4.2% from the 2019 average of $4.05 million and represented a 5.2% decrease from the record average of just under $4.1 million in 2017. The average started to slip in 2018, falling by $1,436. Because the pandemic caused players to receive roughly 37% of pay last year, the actual average plunged to $1.59 million, its lowest since 1998. Before 2018 and 2019, the average had not dropped in consecutive years since the union started tracking it at $19,000 in 1967.

WHITE SOX: Chicago agreed to a minor league contract with veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy, providing another option behind Yasmani Grandal.

GIANTS: Tommy La Stella is moving across the pay, leaving Oakland for San Francisco and an $18.75 million, three-year contract.